EM-VAX: Enhancing Mucosal Vaccination with DNA Origami

Name of applicant Matteo Tollemeto Title PhD student Institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology Amount DKK 2,481,383 Year 2025 Type of grant Internationalisation Fellowships This project aims to engineer DNA origami nanoparticles to overcome the mucus barrier and improve mucosal vaccine delivery. The objective is to design virus-like nanoparticles that effectively target key immune tissues, such as gut-associated lymphoid tissue and antigen-presenting cells, by optimizing their surface properties and biomolecular corona formation for enhanced immune activation Traditional vaccines often fail to stimulate mucosal immunity due to the mucus barrier in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, which hinders immune stimuli from reaching critical sites where pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 enter the body, such as the mucosal of the gut. As a result, individuals remain vulnerable to infections at these entry points, where traditional vaccination is less effective This project leverages DNA origami to design nanoparticles with precisely tailored shapes, sizes, and surface properties, optimizing their ability to penetrate the mucus barrier and enhance immune activation. By overcoming these barriers, the approach aims to create more effective, targeted mucosal vaccines, offering improved protection against a wide variety of pathogens